American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

I made a rather interesting discovery at a family reunion this summer. My wife's family, which has lived in western Ohio, and Eastern Indiana since about 1810, met at an aunts house near Dayton, Ohio. They had all brought boxes of old family photographs. While everyone else was looking at pictures of people they knew, I dug through one of the older boxes that had some very old pictures in it that no one seemed interested in or which no one could any longer identify the people in them.

At the bottom of the box I was amazed to find an old Civil War photo. The photograph, which must have been copied in the early 20th century from an original tintype, had been glued to a piece of thin cardboard. The cardboard was so old that it was falling apart, but the photo itself was still in remakably good shape.

The photo shows four union enlisted men ( a fifth man in civiian cloths is setting on the ground). The four men are standing in front of a typical field tent. There are many other tents in the background so this appears to be a regimental encampment. Two men stand on the left, two more stand on the right. Between them is a stand of arms and backpacks, neatly stacked and arranged. There are several small US flags on the stand of arms which appear to show 36 stars so this would have to be 1865 at least.

The back packs indicate that the unit is company B, 16th Inf. Since members of my wife's family served in the 16th Indiana I would assume that that is the regiment.

What is odd about the photo, however, is that included on the stand of arms is a sign. In a very stylized font, the sign says "4 Emeralds".

The question is what the heck does this mean? Has anyone ever encountered this expression from the civil war era? I did some googling but didn't find anything other than references to Celtic Croses and video games.

My best quess is that this is some kind of an award. That is, these guys had the neatest tent or something so they got the "4 Emearlds" award for that week or whatever. On the other hand, maybe it refers to a unit identifier of somekind (ie The 4 emeralds division or something).

Anyway, it was a tremendous find. The family gave me the photograph so I'm researching it now to try to figure out who these people are. As soon as I can I will post it online.

The signs could be in reference to the four Irish born (?) soldiers in the picture. Maybe that was their own nickname?

My mom hails from Weston, Ohio, btw. I lived in Cincinnati for about 10 years. We also lived in Plymouth, IN.



MajGen Al 'Ambushed' Amos
3rd "Amos' Ambushers" Bde, Cavalry Division, XX Corps, AoC
The Union Forever! Huzzah!

Al,

Thanks. I have'nt dismissed the possibility that this is indeed a reference to Ireland of some kind. That would make sense. This photo appears to have been very tenderly handled for several generations, so it is almost certainly a picture of relatives, yet my wife's family claims no Irish ancestry or association of any kind. The census records also do not indicate any Irish background. Also, the 16th Indiana was comprised primarily of individuals from around Richmond, IN, and were mainly Quakers (apperntly not all as peaceful as we have been led to believe). I am going to research that angle though.

http://www.indianahistory.org/library/manuscripts/collection_guides/om306.html

You should be able to access the actual rosters. I know I have the URL's someplace.<g>

But, here is some info on division badges:
http://www2.powercom.net/~rokats/corps1.html

Here is a great one for you. You can search the 16th Indiana roster for names.
http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/index.html

If you want, I would be glad to help, as I like this stuff.

<b><font color="gold">Ernie Sands
LtGen, CO XXIII Corps, AoO

ACWGC Cabinet member
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Here is something I picked up on the net. It is after the ACW, but
possibly the four soldiers named themselves after this comic group, if they were at a reunion.

Casey performed primarily in New York's political clubs and back rooms, for which he was rewarded with a job at City Hall. His life was a model of immigrant success: laborer to entertainer to politician. But despite his claims, it is not clear that he wrote "Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill," or even that he was its principal performer. Indeed, in his published collection of readings and songs he included the text with only the note "as sung by Thomas Casey"; other materials are described as having "words and music by Thomas Casey." Some sources attribute the tune to Charles Connelly, but his sentimental style seems far removed from the song's earthy vigor. Douglas Gilbert asserts that it was popularized by a rowdy team of comics, the Four Emeralds, active in the early eighties, thus suggesting that it was in circulation well before Casey picked it up. Others claim that the song was first a hit in Charles Hoyt's farce A Brass Monkey (none of the Hoyt materials at the New York Public Library confirm or deny this) or that it was sung by either Maggie Cline, "the Irish Queen," or J. W. Kelly, "the Rolling-Mill Man," both star performers at Tony Pastor's Broadway Theatre. Whatever its origin, it seems clear that "Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill" quickly became public property, and most would today classify it as a folk song.


MG Mike Mihalik
1/III/AoMiss/CSA